


A Murder on Starscatter Isle

by theweddingofthefoxes



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Assault, Fugitive Rey, Injury, Jealousy, M/M, Magic, Murder Mystery, Reference to death, Rituals, Violence, Wicker Man AU, cult shenanigans, suggestions of coercion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:00:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22782163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theweddingofthefoxes/pseuds/theweddingofthefoxes
Summary: Detective Armitage Hux has volunteered for the case of a lifetime -- solving the murder of Snoke, the leader of a mysterious and isolated commune. If he succeeds, he's sure to get promoted. But if he fails, he could be in for more than he ever expected. Is the new leader, Kylo Ren, a friend, a foe, or something else entirely?
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren
Comments: 113
Kudos: 195





	1. Chapter 1

For others on the force, cases like this one would be an imposition. There was no telling how long the investigation would take, and it could mean days, maybe even weeks, away from loved ones. Parents were reluctant to spend so much time away from kids who had soccer games and dance recitals. Married folks didn’t want to leave husbands and wives all alone, waiting for a phone call or worse, a letter, if the scene of the crime was as isolated as Starscatter Isle was. Phone service was essentially non-existent, and wi-fi was genuinely not available in any part of the island. “What is this? The Oregon Trail?” one of the other officers had asked, snorting, upon hearing that snail mail was the best option for anyone who wanted to stay in communication with the outside world. “Christ.”

But Armitage Hux jumped at the opportunity for a case like this one. 

Working as a police detective was all fine and good, but Hux had his sights set much higher. Lieutenant, maybe, and chief of police, by the time it was all said and done. And he’d been hoping for something exactly like this -- a job that no one else would touch, one which would make his active volunteering to take it all the more noteworthy. 

Hux had no one waiting for him at home. He wasn’t married, or dating anyone, and his apartment didn’t even allow any pets. His father was dead, and he hadn’t spoken to his stepmother in years. The only texts he received that weren’t from co-workers were confirmation codes from online purchases and delivery reminders from pizza restaurants. No one would mind his absence.

Truthfully, he wouldn’t mind the absence of the real world for awhile, either. It wasn’t as if he felt the need to run away from any great awful problem in his life -- quite the opposite. He had a job that paid the bills and a comfortable place to live downtown. He had ambition, plans. A good car. But the grind of day-to-day life sometimes became so depressing that he would spend hours on his day off running on his treadmill or watching marathons of old television shows, trying to find purpose in the repetition. The metaphor wasn’t lost on him. Every now and then he considered spending a weekend away at an isolated cabin or at a monastery or something, go to South America and try ayahuasca in attempt to find some purpose outside of work, but this case was even better than all of that.

A murder on Starscatter Isle. The phrasing alone had propelled the case into Agatha Christie status, hadn’t it? The island was home to a commune, though Hux’s sergeant had straight-up just called it a cult. Was it? Hux associated cults with short-ish life spans, a few years of success before everyone went out in a blaze of gory and glory. These Starscatter people had been there for generations, mostly minding their own business. They made money selling hippie stuff, goat’s milk soap and embroidered skirts, though apparently a few of the founding members had come from money and invested it wisely. They enjoyed their isolation, but members regularly came to the mainland to make deliveries to the local crunchy stores. They never evangelized. They didn’t seem to have any particularly strong beliefs, no warnings of the apocalypse or pleas to repent. And they didn’t seem to want much of anything other than to live in peace. In the century they had been established out there, the only reported murder had happened just a few days before.

Which made it all the more mysterious, didn’t it? The elderly leader, Snoke, had come from the old stock of original founding families out on Starscatter. He had become reclusive in his old age, speaking mostly to and through his adoptive son, but he hadn’t entirely disappeared. Supposedly the son had found him stabbed, and had convinced the rest of the commune to agree to getting the police involved. 

At first, Hux had been certain this son had had something to do with his death. He had the most obvious motive -- inheriting Snoke’s power. The people of Starscatter listened to their leader, and power always corrupted, right? But why haul a detective all the way out there when it would have been so much easier to cover the whole thing up? Especially since it sounded like it had taken some time to talk other members into allowing an outsider in? And Snoke was an old man. Eighty-four. Why not wait for the old man to die naturally instead of risk it all by stabbing him to death? 

Hux was eager to get the answers to all of these questions, and soon.

A week on Starscatter. A week away from I Love Lucy reruns and the treadmill to nowhere. A near-certain promotion upon return. 

Easy.

* * *

A single ferry went to and from the island each week, on Thursday mornings, early. The hour-long ride out was brisk and cold, but Hux liked the feeling of being out on the water and watching the sun come up over the waves that were as neat and regular as a child’s drawing of the sea. The other people on the ferry all chatted about their week, and besides the absence of cell phones, they all seemed like normal hippie-ish kids in their early twenties. Man buns, full beards, long hair, necklaces with crystals on them.

“Did you get that wine?”

“Two bottles.”

“Wanna trade?”

“No!” 

“I have pie!”

“Not as good as raspberry wine, okay?”

By the time the boat had docked, the sun was bright and brilliant in the cloudless sky, and Hux had gotten warm enough to pull off his jacket and roll up his sleeves. He glanced around as he took the narrow pathway from the dock to a small cluster of buildings -- a post office, a kiosk to buy ferry tickets, a few other things he couldn’t quite identify. They were dwarfed by the enormous trees that rose up just behind them, and those, in turn, were dwarfed by jutting cliffs that looked as pale and crumbled as feta cheese. He scanned the top of the rock face, half expecting to see masked figures looking down at him in judgement, but the only other people around were the Starscatter folks getting off the boat and those who were laden down with boxes and bags to sell back at the We Love Organics back in the shopping center beside Hux’s apartment. 

“Detective Hux?”

Hux turned to look -- someone calling his name from inside the doorway of the post office. 

“You must be Ben Solo.” He hadn’t expected the man to be so young. He’d assumed the adoptive son of the elderly Snoke would be in his fifties, but this man seemed to be more around thirty, if that. 

“You can call me Kylo Ren,” the man answered, stepping out into the sunshine. He wasn’t that much taller than Hux was, but he was imposing, wide-shouldered and thick-bodied. Instead of robes or masks or whatever it was that Hux had been expecting of the new leader of these people -- maybe a cape -- he was just dressed simply in a black t-shirt and jeans. He could have been on his way to the grocery store, or maybe helping build sets in a theater company. When he saw the look on Hux’s face, he laughed. “We don’t really use our government names around here that much. Picking out our own names is important here. But, you know, we still have to give the Social Security office something a little more permanent.”

A little bit of tension lifted from the base of Hux’s spine. Something about the fact that these people wore denim and had Social Security cards made everything feel a lot more...normal. He felt strangely too-aware that he was standing very straight. 

“I see. I’m sure I’ll have a lot to learn.” 

“I believe in you. A detective like yourself shouldn’t be too easily rattled by the way we do things differently.” They began to make their way up the gentle incline, into the trees. If he was about to be hacked up into pieces, here was the perfect spot, but instead Kylo Ren spoke in a friendly way. “I wanted to clarify something for you, Detective.”

“What would that be?”

“The reason I told the police department that I wanted you here is to find out who killed the former leader of Starscatter.”

“Is that not actually the reason?”

“Well, you see,” Kylo said, and he lowered his voice ever so slightly, though it seemed unlikely that anyone could hear them now that they had moved away from the dock and the little crowd. “I actually know who killed him.”

Hux furrowed his brow. “You know?”

“Yes. But I don’t have any evidence. That’s what I want from you.”

“Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

“A young woman named Rey had been writing to me. She had been doing some research about the history of Starscatter, and I invited her to come out and see some of our rituals for herself.”

“Rituals?” 

“Every decade, we have something called the Silencer ritual.” Kylo said this as casually as a waiter at a restaurant might explain that the soup of the day was vegetable beef. “And this year is the year for it. So she came out to see.”

“Are you going to explain what the Silencer ritual is?”

“That would be...quite a bit of explanation. But you’ll see the preparations yourself. I’ll show you everything you’d like to see.”

“And I assume you made this girl Rey the same offer.”

“That’s right. Apparently she wasn’t impressed.”

“So why would she kill Snoke?”

“Well, that’s what I’d like to know too. Once you find her, I’d like to ask her myself.”

Something clicked just then.

“She’s still on the island.”

“Yes.” Kylo stopped, now that they had reached the top of the little slope and they could see a little collection of cabins out in a clearing past the towering conifers. “She’s out there, and I want you to bring her in. Get a confession, perhaps. Find out why she did this.” He smiled thinly. “Do you think you’re up for such a challenge?”

A challenge. The island, Hux knew, was only a few square miles in size. She was out there, in a limited number of hiding places. And when he brought her in, he’d be rewarded. Though of course Kylo remained as suspect in his mind, for now. And so did everyone else who hadn’t gotten off the ferry with him.

“Is she dangerous?”

“She’s already killed once.”

“If you don’t mind me saying so, she’s killed one defenseless elderly man.”

Now it was Kylo’s turn to laugh impolitely.

“Elderly, yes. Defenseless...well. Depends on how you look at it.” He indicated to the woods around them. “Rey grew up learning survivalist skills. She’s the kind of person who could get by eating twigs and berries out in the forest, and she’s proven herself deadly with a blade.”

“I have a pistol. We’ll see who wins that fight.”

“For your sake, I hope you’re right.” Kylo began walking again. “Let me show you to your home for the next week or two, or maybe three, and then we can talk about the exact sequence of events that led to you being here in the first place.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo Ren reveals the long, strange history of Starscatter, his own family history, and the reasons that Rey might have done what she did.

Whatever Hux had been expecting as far as accommodations, this wasn’t it. Sure, it wasn’t luxurious the way a stay at a hotel in the city might be -- no fridge with bottles of champagne or high-speed wi-fi -- but it was sumptuous in other ways. Kylo Ren had shown him to a cabin that sat in a cluster of other cabins right in the middle of the village, nothing ramshackle about any one of them. He said he’d be back later so they could talk details, but to first take some time and make himself at home. And it hadn’t taken long to do just that.

From the bedroom window, Hux could see the forest of towering trees, but it was possible to see a strip of sea from the front room. The home’s water came from a well out back, which had at first put Hux off, but when he gave the iron pump a few curious pushes, the water that came out was clear and sparkling in the morning sun. Every detail, from the rose-patterned curtains to the beautifully carved wooden table to the neatly arranged glazed jars filled with sugar and honey and oats, was clean and pretty. The comforter on the bed was thick and plush, and the mattress gave a satisfying bounce when Hux sat down upon it.

“People would pay real money to get off the grid like this,” Hux said, when Kylo Ren returned half an hour later. Hux had already hung up the clothes he had brought in the closet and was making some notes in his pocket-sized pad when he had heard the knock. “You should rent these cabins out. You’d make more money.” 

Kylo shook his head as they both sat down at the table together. “Oh, absolutely not,” he laughed. “I’ll be the first to say I didn’t agree with Snoke on everything, but on that point, I firmly intend to maintain his rules. Starscatter is for the believers. We’re happy to still interact with others, you know? But the island belongs to us.”

Hux opened up to a fresh page in the notepad. “That’s a great place to start, actually. Rey wasn’t a believer.”

“She wasn’t born here, no.”

“But you invited her here, despite being an outsider?”

“I invited her here for a short visit, yes. Just like you. And it’s not uncommon for people to join the Starscatter community from the outside, if they share our beliefs, and we deem them serious about it.” Kylo traced one finger along the pattern of the wood on the surface of the table. 

“What exactly are your beliefs? If this Rey was moved to murder, perhaps there was something she learned about the philosophy of Starscatter that she thought justified it.” 

Kylo looked thoughtful for a moment before responding -- perhaps measuring what Hux would do in response. Then, he said the very last thing Hux was expecting: “You have some change in your pocket, don’t you?”

Hux frowned. “I might. It’s likely.”

“Take it out and see if you have forty cents.”

He still didn’t know what this had to do with anything, but he did it anyway. Three coins in his pocket -- a quarter, a nickel, a dime. Forty cents. “That’s right. How did you know?”

“Well, how do you think I knew?”

“Some kind of trick, I assume. I’ve seen David Blaine.”

“Sadly, he probably works harder than I do. Tricks take a lot more intelligence and cunning than being in touch with the Force.”

“I’m not sure I follow.”

“A hundred years ago, this community was started by people who were -- well, I guess most people would call them psychic. Though that’s not a very good definition of what was really going on, or what the Force is.”

“All right.”

“They decided to find a place that met two conditions. One, it had to be the perfect distance away from society, far enough that it would give them privacy and freedom, but not so far that they would lose touch with the outside world forever. And two, it had to be a place where they could hear the voice of the Force speaking to them, in their minds and bodies, in their blood and bones.

“It took a long time, but eventually, they found this island. Some of the members of this group were old money, so coming up with the funds wasn’t hard. It was harder to get everything set up. Digging wells and placing foundations. Keeping their animals alive. Getting used to life out in the wild when so many of them had spent their childhoods in manor houses. But they could hear the Force within and without, and so...they rejoiced. They knew they had done the right thing.”

Hux was following along in his notepad, hardly picking up the pen from the paper as he took notes. It occurred to him that this story sounded quite practiced. Maybe Kylo had told Rey this exact same tale. 

“My grandfather was one of those who was initiated in later, someone who had heard about this place and who wanted to see if he’d fit in. The Force called to him so loud that he actually ended up succeeding the then-leader and being in charge for a long time. He learned so much, and he had a lot of incredible ideas. He was a writer, he kept volumes of journals... But my grandmother died here on the island giving birth to my mom and uncle, and that changed some things. For one, they made it mandatory to have kids at the hospital over on the mainland, unless it was impossible to do so. And my grandfather also never got over the loss. He couldn’t handle raising his children because they’d remind him too much of her, so they grew up away from Starscatter. That was...a controversial decision. Some people thought it was the right choice, while others thought it flew in the face of everything the community was supposed to be -- safe, communal, loving. But he was the leader, and so what he said went.

“After that, a few people left. That was to be expected. No one is required to stay on Starscatter if they don’t want to. My mother grew up, ironically, in one of the very same manors that one of the original families had left. A perfect exchange. A balance.”

He paused, and it was quiet for a long moment until Hux prompted, “But she came back? With you?”

“No, she never came back. I found my way here as an adult. She hadn’t liked the idea of me going back to the community that had abandoned her, but I felt the same call that he had all those years before. By that time, my grandfather was dead, and Snoke was in charge. But he welcomed me, and even gave me all of my grandfather’s journals. I actually keep them in this house, for safekeeping.

“So how long have you been here?”

“More than ten years. Maybe twelve. This will be my second Silencer ceremony.”

“And that’s what you invited Rey to see.”

“I thought the timing would be incredible, just with what we were trying to do. You see, Rey got the idea that she might be descended from the old founders of Starscatter,” Kylo answered. “That’s why she started writing to me. I thought she might want to come and talk to people, learn more about us, and about herself. I thought she might want to come home.”

Something in Kylo’s expression at that seemed to Hux, for the very first time since he arrived, as cult-like. 

“So she thought some of the people who left after your grandfather gave up your mom and uncle…”

“Were her parents, yes. She’d grown up in the foster system, and with what sounded like just...random neighbors. And sometimes just in the woods, or in the desert. She never knew for sure where she came from.”

Hux frowned at his notes.

“Well. That certainly seems like it could be a motive, couldn’t it? Suppose she found out something unsavory about her parents from Snoke.”

Kylo raised his eyebrows. “An ugly lie, or an ugly truth. Either way, yes, definitely.”

“Did he talk to you about it? Before he died?”

“What, about her parents?”

“About her in general. Were you the only one in contact with her before she arrived?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“And you thought she might have a place here.” 

“I doubt this will make it into your investigation, Detective, but I believed she belonged here. Whether her parents were former members or not. She’s incredibly connected with the Force. And coming here only made it stronger.”

Hux closed his notepad. 

“Just one more question for the moment, Kylo Ren. Where did Rey stay when she was here?”

Kylo smiled, like they were sharing an inside joke. 

“In this very place, of course. My own second cabin.”

The cabin where all of Kylo’s grandfather’s journals had been kept. Perhaps Rey had learned something about her own identity at this very table, reading through the journals of the former leader. Already, a few theories were forming -- had she learned something terrible about her parents? Or had she found out something awful about Starscatter, and gone to confront Snoke about it? 

Either way, Hux knew what he would be doing that evening.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux meets a few of the island's residents, and learns that Kylo Ren may be a different man than he first thought.

After Kylo left, Hux first combed every inch of the cabin for possible clues that Rey could have left behind. He wasn’t exactly optimistic -- who knew how much time Kylo or anyone else could have had to clean things up -- but he still knew he needed to try. Nothing. Not a scrap of clothing, not a strand of hair. The only evidence that anyone had been there before him at all was the disturbed dust on the bookshelf, which was a promising clue regardless. Someone had been reading specific journals. Hux would be right behind them.

By this time, his stomach was beginning to growl. There were plenty of ingredients stocked in his kitchen, but there was nothing quick, so Hux went out onto the porch to try and get his bearings. There was no way to lock the front door, which unnerved him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d left a place he was living without locking up behind him, but there was nothing to be done about it. 

The cabins were arranged in neat clusters like the blossoms of a flowering tree around the little dirt paths, which were like the branches. At the juncture of the branches sat a few other buildings, which, if Hux had to guess, were shops and a place to worship. There were no signifiers of traditional religion marking this building as anything Hux could recognize, which made Hux wonder yet again about the ‘Silencer’ ritual that Ren had brought up and not yet described. The only real object of splendor Hux had seen since arriving -- manmade, anyway, the natural beauty of the island was unbelievable -- was the enormous stained glass window that took up the entire east side of this building, no doubt in order to make the most of the rising sun. The scene it displayed featured a figure of indeterminate gender in a tunic standing on the cliffs of Starscatter Isle and reaching out towards the dark blue sky, a glittering whorl of reds and icy blues spilling down from the heavens, almost appearing to reach back. Perhaps this was a representation of a real person, one of the founders, but Hux read it a different way. It could be anyone, any of them on Starscatter, receiving the mysterious beauty of the Force. An easy figure to project yourself upon. 

At the foot of the cliff, flowers bloomed, animals frolicked, and butterflies flitted, but what caught Hux’s attention more than those upon his second look was the second figure, harder to see in the shadow of the brilliantly surrounded person up above. This figure also appeared neither distinctly male or female. They lay on their side, with their back to the viewer, their body pierced with a sword. Hux couldn’t quite tell if the blade was red to begin with or if it was stained all the way up to the hilt with blood, but either way, it was unnerving. 

“Hey, uh, Hugs?”

Hux startled and turned around, not expecting anyone to say his name, or something close to it.

“It’s Hux,” he snapped, a bit more irritable than he intended. The speaker was a guy around his own age, with dark curls and a five o’clock shadow -- a detail that seemed un-culty as well. He’d been imagining wizard beards, but nobody he’d met so far had lived up to that. “ _Detective_ Hux, with the Arkanis PD.” He withdrew his badge and held it out, and the guy looked at it with the sort of playful admiration a parent might offer a child using a leaf as money. 

“Detective, sorry. My mistake.” He didn’t seem abashed in any way. He reached down to pet the head of the dog that was sitting next to him, a black and orangey-tan spaniel of some kind. “I’m Poe. Kylo Ren said you might need some stuff for your house.”

“I did realize I was famished, not too long ago. That’s why I came down here, but then I…”

“Got distracted by this, yeah. Isn’t it gorgeous?”

“It’s...striking, that’s for sure.” Hux looked down at the dog, as if expecting it to have any answers, but it just gave a squeaky whine. He turned back to Poe. “What are all of these buildings?”

“Hope you’re not expecting a McDonald’s, Detective. The one with the stained glass is, I guess you could call it the town hall? Though that’s kind of generous. It’s a meeting place. And then there’s a big communal kitchen and storehouse. We’ll get you everything you need. Matt should be able to get it ready pretty quick.”

Matt was a big slouchy blonde man who could have been any age between eighteen and forty. He made no attempt to hide his contempt when Hux followed Poe into the storehouse -- some unholy mix of a Costco and a general store from an old West film. It had concrete floors and steel shelving, but chickens wandered in and out, making Hux shudder with disgust. 

“What?” Matt wanted to know.

“Let’s get him set up, just with some basics,” Poe said, friendly as ever. Matt shoved his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “A box of this week’s basics.”

“How much do I owe you?” Hux asked, reaching for his wallet. 

“We don’t use money,” Matt said brusquely.

“He’s new,” Poe told him, as if that were necessary.

“Well, we don’t.”

“We don’t,” Poe echoed, his voice distinctly kinder. Hux frowned. 

“So you’re just giving this stuff to me for free?”

Poe and Matt looked at each other, their eyes meeting in a perfectly-timed motion, and then Matt scoffed, picking up a wooden crate so he could go fill it with vegetables and loaves of bread. 

“Think of it this way,” Poe said, snapping his fingers to distract the little dog from the chickens. “BB! Sorry. Think of it like -- you’re doing a service for us, aren’t you? You’re going to find out what happened with Snoke. So we’re just going to take care of you while you’re here.”

The dog, BB, trotted back over to sit at Poe’s heels, but kept glancing back longingly. 

“Well, that’s. Kind,” Hux said stiffly. “Thank you.” He cleared his throat, took out his notepad. “I’d love to ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind.”

“I’ll do whatever I can do.”

“Were you at all acquainted with Kylo Ren’s guest Rey?”

“Rey! Yes, she’s a gem, a total delight.”

“When was the last that you saw her?”

“She left the island about a day before Snoke died.”

“You saw her leave?”

“Well, not personally, but -- no, come on, Red, don’t give me that.” For the first time, Poe looked cross. “I’m telling you now, no way was she involved in Snoke’s death.”

“It’s Detective.”

“Okay, Detective Red, I’ll tell you this. That girl has a heart of gold. She was looking for a home here.”

“So why did she leave?”

“She and Kylo Ren got into some kind of argument. Which is not hard to do. I’ve known him since he was a kid, and he’s stubborn as a teenage mule. Not to mention capable of an ass-kicking.”

“I didn’t get that impression.”

“Of course not! He’s going to be on his best behavior in front of the cops.”

“Do you think Kylo Ren was involved in Snoke’s death, then?”

“No. I mean, he’s no angel, like I said. But he would have done anything for Snoke.”

“Well. I’d be interested to hear your theory about what happened.”

“I think--” Poe looked delighted, like he had been waiting for just such an opportunity to elaborate. “I think someone’s trying to frame Rey. Out of jealousy.”

“And what would they be jealous of?”

“She got all of Kylo Ren’s favor. He could have made anyone here his own apprentice, but he brought on his pen pal instead. And she’s just -- everyone loves her. She made friends easily. She was fascinated by the culture. She was doing in days what it takes people on this island years to do.” 

“So Kylo Ren had made her his own second-in-command?”

“Pretty much. Not officially, but he made it pretty clear he wanted to train her for it. Then they have a huge argument. Then she leaves, or says she’s leaving, then Snoke shows up dead. I think someone took advantage of her absence to discredit her in Kylo’s eyes. They make it look like she went for the ultimate fuck-you, pardon my French, Detective.”

“Do you know what the argument was about?”

“No idea.”

“You want me to take this back to your cabin or what?” Matt said from directly behind Hux, making him jump yet again. Matt laughed. “God, I didn’t think cops would freak out like that.”

“I’d appreciate that,” Hux said, clearing his throat. “Poe, thanks for your time. I’ll ask you if I have any other questions…”

The box looked enormously heavy, stuffed to the brim with apples and cheeses and round little melons, butter in butcher paper, crusty bread. “I thought people here chose their own names,” Hux said as they walked back out past the glimmering stained glass mural.

“I haven’t gotten there yet.”

“You didn’t choose Matt?”

“No, I didn’t choose _Matt_.” He huffed. “I’m new too, okay? I dropped out of art school and came here six months ago. My parents lost their minds.”

“Well.” Hux wasn’t quite sure what to say. “Are you happy?”

“Happier than I was, sure.” He hitched the box so he could get a better grip on it. “Don’t have to worry about grades and getting a job and shit. Right now I’m just focused on getting into Kylo Ren’s good graces.”

“Why’s that?”

“Cause Snoke is dead, so he’s the one to impress.”

“What happens if you do?”

“Well, you could be his apprentice. Get better in touch with the Force. And if shit hits the fan, he’s the one with the power to pardon.” Matt looked almost thoughtful. “If you’re the leader around here, the spirit of the island can like, go inside you. And give commands. It’s supposed to be very powerful.” 

Hux didn’t believe a word of that. “Is that so.”

“I’m lucky, I timed it so I could see the Silencer ritual and see it happen. That’s why it’s called that, because the leader’s own voice is silenced and they speak with the voice of the island itself.”

Well, that answered one question. What he had assumed would be wholly sinister seemed no more exciting than a bunch of hippies listening to someone speak in tongues. Hux had seen far worse busting meth dealers. “It seems like Rey was in line for that.”

By now they’d reached the porch of Hux’s cabin. Matt set the box down on the top stair, then put his hands on his hips, looking Hux up and down. “I didn’t think anybody would believe me, but...I saw her after she left that argument with Kylo Ren.”

“Where did she go?”

“Into a cave. Up in the cliffs.” Matt glanced up in the direction of the cliffs, as if they might see her standing there now. “I know it’s crazy. But I think she’s still here.”

“What did you think of her?”

“She was. Well. If Kylo Ren picked her as an apprentice, it was the right choice. She’s really powerful.”

“Powerful enough to kill?”

Matt shrugged. 

“Who knows. I’m not gonna like, accuse anybody of anything. I’m just saying.” He gave the wooden crate a kick. “That’s lunch. Dinner’s at six.”

“Dinner--?”

“We all eat dinner together.”

“Everyone? The whole island?”

“It’s only like eighty people.”

“Matt, that’s a wedding.”

“Well, you gotta.”

Hux frowned. “I do not have to do--”

“Kylo Ren will come knock down your door if you don’t. We eat together. That’s a rule.”

“I’m not one of you.”

“But you’re here. Consider it your _payment_ to us.” With that, Matt turned and slouched back off down the dirt path, back towards the gleaming image of the impaled and the star-struck figures, then disappearing out of sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Such intrigue! :3
> 
> Chat with me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/mevia_ergo)!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux finds himself trying to squash his own feelings as he spends more time with Kylo Ren and questions him more about his past with Rey.

The wedding analogy had not been far off. Dinner was served inside a pavilion, at a series of round tables that shared the rustic prettiness of Hux’s cabin. Sanded wood, wildflowers in chunky clay vases in the center. Roast chickens and buttery veggies served in stoneware. All that was missing was a cake. If a cult had started in an Anthropologie store, Hux thought, it might look something like this. 

Once everyone had gathered, Hux had expected some kind of prayer, or at least a reference to the Force, but what happened instead was much more like the announcements that would come at the end of a church service, or maybe the daily news that an assisted living home might dispense. Birthdays, vegetables in season, weather reports. It would have been boring regardless, but the man who was reading them was a nervous older man who seemed determined to over-explain each item, like a high schooler trying to meet an essay’s word count. The only thing that seemed interesting to any degree was a reminder that the Silencer event would be in three days.

No one was to start eating until the announcements had finished -- or at least, nobody was doing that, and Hux wasn’t about to commit a faux pas on the very first night. To take his mind off how maddeningly good everything smelled, the chicken and beans and potatoes, the baked apples and hot rolls, Hux watched Kylo instead. He wasn’t surprised to be seated at Kylo’s side, since Kylo had been his guide all day, but the thought did occur to him when he sat at Kylo’s right and noticed the others observing him: _I am Rey’s replacement_. A new outsider to bring in. The spider that the island had swallowed to catch the fly. 

_She got all of Kylo Ren’s favor._

But no longer.

“Finally,” the man making the announcements was saying, “Please welcome Detective Armitage Hux from the mainland, from the Arkanis police department. He’s been assigned to investigate Snoke’s case, on the advice of Kylo Ren, who called him, and asked him to come investigate.”

And here was Kylo Ren at his left now that the droning had finally ended and there was polite applause that signaled dinner could finally begin, offering him a spoonful of everything before serving himself.

“Yes, thank you,” Hux said to all of it. 

It was hard to deny, especially now that Hux was in the thick of the village’s life, around everyone else, that it felt good for Kylo to be looking out for you. Not just because he was in charge, not just because he was good-looking (and he was, this was simply an objective fact, one that Hux could acknowledge as easily as anyone else). If the Force really was real, it walked with this person, though Hux knew it by a different name: charisma. 

And of course, the most charismatic leaders had the most potential for cruelty, Hux reminded himself, remembering what Poe had said. Cult leaders were _charismatic_ , that’s how cults got off the ground in the first place. But that concept seemed distant and strange in comparison with the man who had offered him such a juicy slice of chicken, the kind with the amber-crisp skin he could feel his mouth watering for.

_He is a suspect!_

“Everything was made within the last few hours,” Kylo Ren was saying. “You might have seen the very chicken you’re eating wandering around when you arrived.”

“Farm to table. Again, people would pay for this…”

Kylo laughed. “You’re not going to let that go, huh? Detective, this is not a resort.”

But that was the appeal, wasn’t it? It was worth dropping out of art school for, dropping your old life for. It was worth giving up your family wealth for. Even if you had to carry boxes around, you could still be chosen, here. You could hear the voice of the Force. 

If you believed in that kind of thing. 

“What do people usually do after dinner?” Hux asked once his plate had been cleaned, half hoping there might be some planned social activity, half not. It would give him more opportunity to observe, but Hux had never liked so much as icebreaker questions, let alone an eighty person-strong date night. 

“Oh, all kinds of things. Go fishing or swimming, while there’s light. Go on hikes, and meditate. Make fires and chat. Just…” Kylo Ren said this without a shred of irony. “Normal people things.”

“Makes sense. It’s beautiful out.”

“Planning to join in?”

“I might go back to my cabin. I’m not used to eating so well.” Mostly he relied on Postmates and microwave pot pies. The last time he’d had home cooking like this? He couldn’t even recall. And besides, now would be a good chance to start looking at the journals. “And I’m not here to socialize, you know.”

“Not a resort, after all.” By now, islanders had begun to rise at their leisure with their plates and silverware, placing them in metal bins to be cleaned by those on clean-up duty. Kylo stretched contentedly and watched people leave in chattering groups, then turned back to Hux. “Shall I leave you to it?”

“Why don’t you walk me back?”

Kylo raised an eyebrow.

“I have a few more questions for you. And I suspect you wouldn’t want me to ask them in front of everyone.”

“Fair enough. I assume a seasoned officer like yourself isn’t making excuses for being afraid of the dark.” 

Hux scoffed. “It’s not even dark yet.”

“Between the trees and the cliffs, when the sun sets, it gets dark quite fast around here. Not a problem for those of us who know the island well, but in the first twenty-four hours...well, I’m sure you have a flashlight, Detective. Let’s get going.”

It wasn’t until they had broken free of the crowd, the stragglers that had stayed to say hello to the new leader or ask questions, that Hux began.

“What was the nature of your relationship with Rey?”

Ren did not seem surprised by the question. His voice was sharp, not quite irritated but close. “Did we fuck, is what you’re asking, right, Detective? You seem loath to be crude, so I’ll do it for you.”

“I’m asking what your relationship was.”

“But you do want to know.”

“You seem to want to tell me. Did you?”

“No. We were really close, don’t get me wrong. But that wasn’t what she came here for.” Some instinct in Hux made him decide Kylo was being sincere...but that left the door open for other possibilities. If one of them had wanted to take the relationship further than the other did, that might have been the cause for the fight that Poe and Matt had mentioned. 

“So you were just friends.”

“What’s ‘just’ about friends? Family never meant as much to me as friends did, and I was never good at making them. She was one of the only people who…” Kylo stopped walking, and for the first time he sounded not like the smooth, knowledgeable cult leader but like a man who was truly quite sad. His eyes shone, glazed-dark in the dimming light, and Hux could not look away. “Who wanted to be my friend. I mean, yes, she came here for the Force, that’s what everyone does. But she really cared about me. I never knew I could have a friend like that.”

Hux cleared his throat, feeling strangely embarrassed. “Did you have a fight with her, the day before Snoke died?”

“We had a disagreement. I told her she should leave the island. I suppose island gossip has turned that into us going at each other’s throats.”

“Why? Why did you tell her that, I mean?”

“Snoke didn’t like her. I think he saw her as a--distraction for me. Certainly he had liked the idea of me on a pedestal, untouchable, not one of the common folk on the island. Rey threw all that into disarray.”

“So you think she killed him in retaliation? Or to hurt you for telling her that?”

“This morning I told you I want to ask her myself, why she did it. That’s the best answer you’re going to get from me as far as motive.”

They had reached the near-deserted cluster of cabins now. Everyone else was building a bonfire down by the beach, or hiking up to the cliffs to see the stars. When Hux climbed the short stairway up to his own, Kylo stayed down on the dirt path, like a vampire who had not yet received an invitation inside. 

“What do you want to happen, when I find Rey?”

Kylo thought about that.

“I want things to be as they should be.”

Which meant nothing at all. 

“Well. I’ll do everything I can to make things as they should be,” Hux offered, and Kylo smiled, and Hux’s gut twisted because it was such a nice smile. Genuine.

Or not.

Hux closed the door behind him and sat down at the table and put his head in his hands, elbows balanced on the wooden edge, curled up so the notebook in his shirt pocket squashed against his heart.

_You cannot take Ren’s word on ANYTHING. For all you know, Ren cut her up into little pieces because she wouldn’t put out._

_Then why, why did he bring you here?_

Hux listened to his own breaths go in, go out, for a long while.

_Does it really matter to you that much whether they fucked?_

For the investigation, sure. For Hux personally…

“I’m going to look at these journals,” he said out loud. 

There were a few that he had noticed before, that had clearly been pulled out and put back, where the dust had been wiped away from the removal, and they were the ones that Hux pulled too, carefully handling them so they wouldn’t get hurt, to examine at the table with a detective’s precise eye. A task to keep him focused on why he was really here as he fought down the feeling that he refused to name, the one that stung like bile and tasted just like jealousy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jealous much??
> 
> This has been a nice little quarantine activity for me, and it's certainly going to be longer than the five or so chapters I anticipated. Woops! Why not chat with me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/mevia_ergo) while we wait things out?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux finally delves into the journals, and comes to a startling conclusion.

Kylo Ren’s grandfather -- Anakin, that was his name -- had handwriting like a child. Huge, blocky, every letter crooked and bobbing like planks of wood in the water. For the number of journals there actually were, there wasn’t as much actual content as Hux had expected. It made for easy reading, though, and the writing itself was as lovely as it was slapdash. A writer. Yes.

The contents were a sort of mashup of occultism, science, and personal feelings, occasional references to his bride, to his hopes for children, to his love of the wild beauty of the island. No wonder Kylo had come here to chase his legacy, if this is how he made this place sound. No wonder Rey had followed.

No sound in the little cabin except for Hux rapidly flipping through the pages of the books, skimming each page until he found what he was looking for, unless he’d stop and read a line or two that made him smile, or frown, or ache a little bit.

No reference to Silencer until the third book.

_I managed to make my way here two years after the previous Silencer, and didn’t hear the Isle’s own voice until I was long established in the community, but how worth the wait! To know that the Force of this place will speak directly, after the unloved’s blood is spilled. It is very hard, I am told, to find such a person on the island itself, for to be here among the people is almost certainly to be loved. The irony, of course, is that any of us who are adored and cared for in this way would gladly give their own life to let the others hear the wisdom of the decade from the mouth of the Isle. But the Isle would not take any of them. The Isle cares quite deeply for its own._

_Of course, there are exceptions. I have been told...that sometimes, one will betray the others, or will hurt the community and forsake the love they were given. Love can be taken away, just as it can be bestowed. But all it takes is the love of one person, to exempt you from this role. I admit I have tested the patience of those around me, but even if they all grew tired of my rages and my impatience, I would still not be taken, because the love Padme has for me. And of course she could not be taken for the role either. The love of a bride or groom, the love of a parent or child, the love of a sibling, whether by blood or adoption, the love of a master and an apprentice...no, it seems remarkable to me that anyone who has been part of Starscatter for more than a few weeks could ever be chosen._

_Every so often I will wonder, is this cruel? Is this cruelty? But it isn’t. It could not be cruel, to give a person who is unloved such a beautiful role. A death in service of something so important would be a million times preferable to a life hated, unknown, uncared for. It is a gift that the isle gives us all in different ways, and even a traitor can redeem him or herself…_

The image struck Hux as clearly as if he had watched it happen himself, or seen it in a film. A dirty-legged girl in a desert trailer park, lugging a trash bag filled with empty aluminum cans to take to the recycling center so she could get enough cash to go to McDonald’s. An unloved girl who had learned to take care of herself.

A girl who had been promised a community, a place to belong, just weeks before the ten-year Silencer ritual was to begin.

A girl who could survive in the wild as long as she needed to. A girl that Matt had seen disappear into a cave.

Hux’s internal dialog rang through his whole body, clear and calm and precise.

_Now you know. Now you know why Kylo brought you here. You are his bloodhound. She knew they were going to sacrifice her, and she killed Snoke so she could escape. Kylo Ren tricked her, and she figured it out, and she got away, and without her they can’t do their fucking human sacrifice!_

Human sacrifice. That hardly sounded real. Human. Sacrifice.

Would these people really do that? In the modern day? Poe and his sweet dog, the nervous old man who kept blathering on, grouchy art school Matt? Kylo, who had been kind--

__He was kind to_ her _, too.__

The truth was, Hux didn’t know what Kylo was capable of.

_But perhaps you are capable of saving her._

The pull of Kylo Ren was so strong that it gave Hux a thrill of terror to imagine going behind his back. Especially when he seemed capable of uncanny psychic things. It would feel, he knew, like Kylo was looking right into his head like it was a fish tank, knowing exactly which one to scoop out. But his responsibility was finding out the truth, wasn’t it? Protecting an innocent person from a cult of weirdos who thought the island could talk to them? No doubt if he did what Kylo had told him to, find her and deliver her, Kylo would thank him politely and place him back on the ferry within the hour. He could almost hear it now. “You’ve been an enormous help, Detective. We can take it from here.” Somehow, he’d dazzle Hux out of actually placing her under arrest and bringing her in. Hux wouldn’t realize it until he was across the bay.

Not until he was back to his nothing of a life.

By then, who could say what would have become of Rey.

So. He’d have to keep up appearances and keep looking. Surely there would be a way to spirit her back to the Arkanis police department. Surely she’d prefer a few nights in jail to getting her throat slit by cultists, he could talk her into working with him, he’d vouch for her in court, it was self-defense--

Of course, it would thwart everything that Kylo Ren had planned.

Even now, knowing what he did, the thought of doing that made Hux feel...strange.

But before he could even try betraying Kylo’s trust, he’d have to find her. Somewhere on the cliffs, in the caves, she was waiting.

He’d set out at first light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but sweet! 
> 
> I thought I'd have this thing done by midsummer, but who knows if that will actually happen. Still, I'm excited to keep it moving.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux goes up onto the cliff trails in order to look for Rey, but nothing goes quite how he expects.

The apparent uncreepiness and the demonstrated kindness and generosity of the people of the island, these only made Hux’s misgivings worse. He woke up before dawn and ate some of the food out of the box that Matt had put together for him, an apple, a few slices of cucumber, a slice of homemade bread that he poured a little honey on. Going out to the water pump to wash off his hands, he felt strangely deft, like he’d done this every day of his life. Like it’d be easy to do forever. 

A few lights were on in the little cluster of cabins, but for the most part, it seemed like everyone was still in bed. The sky began to soften and smear out to the east, and by the time Hux got his hiking boots on, he could see the first brushstrokes of pink giving way to actual sunshine. Once he made his way down the path to the central buildings, he stopped in his tracks. The morning sun was making the stained glass scene on the side of the meeting hall appear to _shimmer_ , almost like those lenticular postcards that showed an animal running or a racecar zooming. The foxes and butterflies and the birds, the standing figure adorned with stars, the defeated figure pierced with the red sword, all of it seemed uncannily real, despite how stylized the art was. He might have gone on standing there all morning if Poe’s little dog BB hadn’t barked and run towards him, barrelling into his leg with all its might. Hux wasn’t much of a fan of dogs, and he took a step back.

“Where’s your--where’s your Poe?” he asked, before he realized he wasn’t going to get an answer. 

The dog sprang closer and pushed its muddy paws into Hux’s knees.

“Go home,” he said, pushing BB back as gently as he could with the tip of his boot. “Go on, go.”

The spell broken, he continued on, BB still following, past the warehouse where he’d gotten his food, past the open field of tables covered in tarps to protect them from the morning dew, up to the rocky edge where the settled land ended and the wilderness began. The path through the rocks and up into the cliffs that looked like a stack of precariously-placed books was worn by many feet, not dug out or marked in any way. 

“Well,” he said, sighing, looking down at the dog, whose tongue was hanging out blithely. “If you’re coming, you’re coming, right?” He laughed. “Hey, if you show me where she’s hiding, I’ll ask Poe if I can take you back and give you a job. Think you can do that?”

The spaniel bounded forward a few feet and then stopped to sniff a rock. Hux decided to keep moving. 

The temperature began to climb as the morning wore on, but there was still a good breeze coming in off the ocean, and sometimes he’d get an especially cool breath of air on his face. When that happened, he’d have to stop again, just to feel it, and he would close his eyes to truly savor it. That feeling again, that feeling like he belonged. 

_You could stay._

He could stay.

He exhaled, hard. Now was not the time to think about it. Now he needed to find some clues -- food scraps, or footprints, or remains of a fire...though Rey would probably be smart enough to not leave anything that obvious. He’d have to think the way a terrified survivalist would be thinking, feel the way she felt. Paranoid. Betrayed. 

To know that Kylo wanted her dead…

Hux swallowed. If he were to pull this off, and he were to ruin this ceremony, Kylo would surely want Hux dead as well.

_Rey, if you are really psychic like everyone’s saying, if you were really the heir apparent and you can--if you can sense me...please know. Just trust me and I’ll take care of everything._

Far off, he could hear the waves.

He should have brought sunglasses. The morning light, up here where the cliffs really started to get high and wild, was absolutely ferocious, and Hux found himself squinting to try and make anything out among the rocks. Caves? Entrances? It all seemed to be the same slashes of grey and brown, like the fur of a lynx, like a fine granite countertop, broken up only by scrubby camo-green brush or the occasional clump of weedy thistle dotted with purple flowers. Examining every big rock individually was almost hypnotic. 

He had just dropped his hand away from his forehead when he thought he saw something move, and he froze, then brought it back up again to shield his eyes once more. 

A woman.

The first thought that entered Hux’s head was _Do not run towards her._

He needed to go slow.

She knew these cliffs much better than him, and she was maybe psychic.

She was standing, conveniently for her, in just the right spot so that Hux could not see her features very well because the sun was blinding him, but it was surely a young woman dressed in dirty white or cream-colored clothes, her hair pulled back and out of her face. At this angle, she could no doubt see him far better than he could see her. 

Hux took a step closer. Another step. He was squinting so hard his eyes were hardly open, just enough to keep her in his sights, and that was not enough to watch his step as well, and it was so easy for him to slip and feel the world wheel drunkenly out from under him, and he was so surprised to be slipping down the jagged cliff path, and the wind was so thoroughly knocked out of him, that he did not make much of a sound besides the clatter of stones and clods of dirt rolling down around him. 

It was so surprising that he didn’t even know how long it had been between him spotting the woman and him coming to on the ground, BB licking his face.

Normally the idea of a dog tongue lapping at his cheek would repulse Hux, but knowing he was alive and some creature knew where he was filled him with a shaky relief.

“BB,” Hux whispered, and the act of speaking made his ribs feel like popsicle sticks ready to splinter. “Go get help.”

This was a wild, terrible, stupid hope. It wasn’t like this was Lassie that he was dealing with. But it was all he had. And to the dog’s credit, it did turn around and trot back down the cliffside path towards the little village, though it was moving at a speed that did not fill Hux with confidence. Still.

After a few minutes of mostly getting his breath, Hux made an attempt to sit up. That was hard; his ribs definitely felt worse for the wear, but they weren’t as bad as his knee, which was okay if he kept it straight but which radiated such pain when he tried to bend it that he gave a loud hiss through his clenched teeth. He couldn’t see any blood soaking through his pants, but he was sure that his knee was already beginning to swell up like a honeydew melon. 

If he just had a big branch or something, he could maybe try hobbling back down to flatter ground, but he had absolutely no way to get back up onto his good leg without collapsing. 

He sat with this thought for a long time, maybe ten minutes, maybe fifteen.

Hux looked hazily up into the brilliance above him, up towards the cave cliffs where he’d spotted the woman, the one who _had_ to be Rey, but there was nobody there. Just as he expected. It was like hoping the deer that you’d been looking at when you crashed your car wouldn’t have bounded off. 

Maybe Rey had seen what had happened and was making her way down to come help him, though. That was another piece of hope he could cling to. Maybe she was checking to make sure no one else was around, and then she could come see if he could help. Surely she would be able to tell that not only did he mean no harm, he couldn’t hurt her even if he wanted to. Would her humanity come through? Or would she be too afraid for her own life to--

“Hux.”

Not a woman’s voice, but Kylo Ren’s. 

“Oh my god,” Hux wheezed, again feeling the splintery sensation in his chest when he breathed too hard. “Did that dog find you?”

Ren narrowed his eyes. “What?”

“I thought--I thought Poe’s--”

“I had a feeling you’d be coming out this way,” Kylo interrupted. He sounded amused, but not mocking, like Hux had merely fallen into a harmless mud puddle. “I wanted to catch you before you got too far and tell you that it was...easy to lose your footing, the further you go out here. But you’ve clearly learned that on your own.”

“Obviously. You have to help me.” Hux reached out his hand. “I think I need an x-ray. Listen, if you can put me on the ferry back across the bay, I can try to be back within a day, I just--”

Kylo took his hand and squeezed, but made no effort to pull Hux up. 

“I’ll come back,” Hux went on, his voice rising just slightly in pitch. “I’m on this case.I just, I need your help to get back--”

“Don’t worry.”

“Kylo, I--don’t. Don’t.” He could not quite describe why he was panicking, but it had something to do with how afraid he was of Kylo and how drawn he was to Kylo and now he was physically, really suffering, he had to _go_ and why didn’t Kylo understand that--

“Just trust me,” Kylo said, low and gentle, not loosening his grip. “I’ll take care of everything.”

Hux swallowed. 

It was only then that Kylo pulled Hux, suddenly, up to his feet, and Hux skittered forward on both legs, shouting with fear, fawn-awkward, covered in dust and twig bits and muddy pawprints, but in no pain at all. 

“What the!” Hux yelled, wheeling around to face Kylo, who looked as unbothered as always. “What the fuck! What did you do! What did you _do_?”

Kylo laughed.

“Most people would say thank you.”

“My leg was broken!”

“And now it’s not.”

Already, Hux had decided he would rationalize this. His knee must not have been broken after all. Kylo had probably seen people slip and fall on this trail all the time and maybe he knew some folksy remedy that amounted to popping a joint back into place. 

But the fact that he could breathe normally, without the feeling of his ribs creaking...that, Hux could not explain.

“You want to doubt me so badly,” Kylo said, leaning in close to brush some dirt off Hux’s front. “You really don’t want to believe.”

“I’m not really used to believing in that kind of thing,” Hux admitted, hating how deeply he savored Kylo coming in so close. 

“Now you don’t have to leave,” Kylo answered. “So you’ll have plenty of time to try.”

They began walking back down towards the sunny fields where the dinner tables stood, covered and waiting. Hux noticed, much to his annoyance, that BB had fallen asleep in the shade of a bush that grew near the entrance to the trail. “So you were looking for Rey up there?” Kylo asked, and Hux found himself unable to lie, though he managed to obscure the whole truth somewhat.

“I’m sure she’s there. But I have no idea where she’s hiding, or how to get to her.” He paused. “I think she thinks I’m after her to -- harm her. I need to convince her I’m not.”

“You need to earn her trust.”

“I don’t know how. I won’t trap her like an animal.”

“No,” Ren agreed. “She’s too smart for traps.”

“I’ll--I’ll figure something out. I do want to have a look at my leg.” It didn’t hurt at all to walk, to move, but somehow it seemed utterly imperative to see it for himself, to undress and confirm his body was unharmed. 

“Then let me walk you back.”

“Yes, thank you. Maybe you’d know if your grandfather had a map of the island’s geography in his collection, actually.” He’d have to go back up there with a plan, instead of just blindly wandering around. It would be an incredible stroke of luck if there were, say, detailed cave maps, but he could at least get his bearings a bit better. 

“I can’t guarantee it, but I can look for you.”

While Kylo pored over the bookshelf that Hux had looked at so much of just the night before -- he’d had the presence of mind to put everything back before going to bed, thank god, so there was no need to explain his research or the conclusions he had come to -- Hux sat at table and rolled up his dirty pant leg as high as it would go so he could look things over.

No swelling. No bruising. Just the faint sheen of sweat. 

“God,” Hux murmured.

“All good?”

“I could have sworn I’d broken it.”

“Have you ever broken your knee before?”

“In college, actually. I was drunk and fell down a flight of stairs in my residence hall. They had to move me to a new dorm because I couldn’t get back up to get my things.” Hux laughed. “So I lived in this weird single room off the front desk.” 

“I wouldn’t have imagined you as a party guy.” It was impossible to not notice the way Kylo was glancing back over at him with his leg revealed like a saucy Victorian maiden. 

“Everyone’s entitled to a party or two in college.” Hux sighed. “That fall...it felt just like that.” He paused. “Did you really just know to find me there?”

“Your heart is easy for me to read.”

“Is it?”

“And now you trust me more.”

“I have an obligation to not trust anyone too much.”

“Just trust me,” Kylo told him for the second time that day, and he was standing over Hux in a way that did not feel like _looming_ but like _protection_ , and in that moment, Hux would trust him with anything, anything. 

When Kylo kissed him, it did not occur to Hux to be afraid for his job or the integrity of his case or his own life. He just kissed back.

“Tell me you didn’t fuck her,” Hux breathed, when they finally pulled apart.

“I didn’t.”

“Say it.”

“I didn’t fuck her.”

“Who.”

“Rey.”

“Say that.”

“I didn’t fuck Rey.”

An exchange like that, for a man like Hux, was erotic beyond dreaming. Maybe that was why Kylo had drawn it out like that. Maybe it excited him the same way, maybe it gave him pleasure to be forced to say it right, say the magic words, maybe he wanted Hux to be more powerful for just a minute, just long enough to savor it before Kylo pulled him roughly by the arm again, this time to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, we're getting to some sexy stuff! Wow!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux may be losing sight of why he's really here on this island.

They’d spent the morning fucking, and then the roulette of adrenaline -- the terror of his fall, the triumph of hearing Kylo had not taken Rey as a lover, the ferocity of the way they’d gone at each other -- meant that Hux ended up sleeping through lunchtime and woke for real sometime in the early afternoon. Kylo had tried to chat with him before heading out. “There are things I need to do,” he’d said, pulling his pants back on, shaking out his sweaty hair like a horse. “Getting ready for Silencer, on top of all the normal things.”

“Mm,” Hux had answered, and pulled the big soft comforter over himself without another word. He heard the door click shut, and before he dissolved back into the total blackness of heavy sleep he found himself wishing he could ask Kylo to stay. 

That night at dinner, once again, he was invited to sit at Kylo’s right hand. Good food once again. Slow-roasted beef, asparagus, hot bread, cinnamon donuts for dessert. Hux could not stop watching Kylo’s hands, his mouth, the sensual way he ate everything. Or maybe it wasn’t actually sensual at all, but the slow-burning coals that were scattered around in Hux’s lower body were just making him feel like every motion Kylo made was unbearably desirable.

“Will you come back?” he asked, when Kylo once again walked him back to his own cabin that night. 

“If you let me in in the morning.”

“I get up early.”

“Is that your way of asking if I’ll creep in before dawn?”

“Creep in before dawn if you like, sure.”

Maybe Kylo had done some spell on him, he thought as he went to bed that night, the table still an absolute mess of notes. That was the thing about spells. If someone had enchanted you to not care, how would you know it was a problem you’d been bewitched? He opened the window a crack and took in the scent of the island, forest and sea melting together in the perfect balance, and felt strangely queasy at the thought of leaving it. 

For the next two days, things almost became routine this way. Kylo Ren would come by in the morning and they would lose a few hours together. He’d say almost anything Hux wanted him to when they were together like this. An eager parrot, just dying to tell Hux whatever he wanted to hear. Perhaps that had started before they began sleeping together. Perhaps that had started the moment they’d met. Hux was troubled by how hard he found it to care at some points. 

_You are jeopardizing the case. You are ruining everything. She is going to die because you’re so fucking selfish._

He hadn’t given up his search, of course. He was still spending his afternoons combing through the journals, looking for maps, looking for references to hiding spots. He went on more hikes, went searching through the woods for any trace of evidence, from the time Kylo left each day until dinner. It gave him some hope, some relief, to know she was still at large even as the Silencer ritual loomed near. Maybe he couldn’t find her and save her himself, but she could stay on the run long enough to wait out the sacrifice. He had to believe that she was capable of it. 

“Am I allowed to come to the ritual?” Hux asked the afternoon before the intended day of the Silencer. They were eating oranges; none grew here, but some of the young people who sold things at the farmer’s market had brought them back. Kylo looked like a painter’s model sitting there in the tangle of blankets, nude and eating fruit. 

“The ritual itself, absolutely,” Kylo said. “In the morning everyone kind of goes off to prepare, that part is private. Not even just you, private from you, I mean. It’s that you’re supposed to be away from everyone else, just opening up your heart to what’s coming, if you are an islander that wants to get something from it. But you’ll be able to see everything at the actual ritual.” He shifted where he sat so he could reach the plate also on the bed and drop a piece of peel onto it. “I’m not sure what you’ll think, truly.”

“You might even make a true believer of me.”

“That seems like a big ask.” Kylo’s eyes glimmered. “You don’t seem like much of a believer in anything.”

“I believe that you’re what you say you are. Mostly.”

This, strangely, wasn’t a lie.

“Mostly,” Kylo conceded. “It’s fun to watch someone learn to trust me. I’m not used to that.”

He looked like he wanted to say something else, but then he suddenly slumped back on the pillow, looking stricken. “The people here really like you, Hux. I hope you believe me when I say that, too.”

“They seem to really like me. No, I don’t have any reason to doubt that.”

“But they are also true, true believers in the Force. I need to ask you to do something.” He paused. “Do not try and interfere with anything tomorrow. Don’t leave the house until I come and get you. If you try and like...snoop around, on this particular morning, if you try to fuck anything up, it’s not going to be good.”

Hux did not reply for a long moment.

“You brought me here to snoop,” he finally answered, knowing that he sounded petulant.

“I brought you here to help. This is how you can help yourself. Don’t leave until I come and get you.”

He put his hand to Hux’s face, cupping his cheek so that his thumb was just under Hux’s lip. It was the easiest thing in the world to kiss the juice from that sticky hand. Only slightly more difficult was it to remain under Kylo’s spell, to not even think about what could happen to Rey tomorrow, and here was Hux, having not found her or helped her…

“All right,” Hux murmured, and he was rewarded with a kiss, another, another.

* * *

Hux did not leave the cabin when he woke the next morning, not even to get water. There was enough in the carafe to last him a while, he thought sleepily, watching the figures of the islanders leave the surrounding cabins and head off like ghosts into the forest beyond. By the time the sun had come up properly, there was no human activity around him at all. Only the faint squeaking of weather vanes and the tinkling of wind chimes, the far-far sound of the ocean, the enormous shimmering sound of the leaves all rustling in the sea breeze. 

He made some tea and tried to organize all of the mess on his table, his own notebooks and the journals, but it felt unsatisfying. What good was bothering with any of this stuff when he had no idea if Rey had been found? He’d been wasting all of his time, he thought, taking a loud, miserable slurp--

There came a sudden knock at the door and he jolted, sloshing some of the tea onto the floor. He wiped at his face with his sleeve and went to open it.

“I wasn’t expecting you so so--”

It was not Kylo Ren standing at his door but a young woman dressed in dirty white clothes, her hair pulled back into a series of buns, looking a bit skinny and more than a little feral, dirt under her nails and a long splintered stick in her hands. Most striking was how young she looked, she wasn’t old to start with but she also had big, childish eyes, and she looked like every fiber of her focus was being spent on not running off like a rabbit. 

“Rey,” Hux breathed. “Rey, you’re -- oh my god.”

“I’m here,” she said. “I couldn’t come help you before, Kylo was coming up the path, that day on the cliffs, but I saw you, I knew where to find you -- I’ve been watching you, just like you’ve been watching me.”

Maybe this should have sounded foreboding, but it didn't. 

“It’s all right,” Hux said, feeling his heart catching in his throat. For all the jealousy he’d felt towards her before, and probably still did, he wanted nothing more than to see her off to safety. To complete his task, to spirit her off the island unharmed.

To take her place in Kylo’s heart, to make him forget her, well, it wouldn’t hurt if that happened to.

“Please help me,” she said. “Please. I had to wait until now, when I knew everyone would be gone.”

“We’ll go down to the ferry.”

“We can’t leave, though. No one will be there to drive it until tomorrow.”

“We can hide you in storage,” Hux answered. He was talking as fast as he was thinking, improvising how he might rescue her on such short notice. “I’ll get you enough food to make it until then. When the boat docks back at the city I’ll stop things up, and say that I need to investigate. I can get some backup from the police department by then. We’ll find you in the storage hold and take you in for questioning. Then I’ll make sure you get a good lawyer.” 

“Anything. Yes. Just get me off this island.”

He stuck his head further out the door, the salty breeze ruffling his hair.

_Kylo said to wait for him._

_Kylo wants to have this girl murdered!_

This was, of course, a huge interference with the ritual. But he had to do it. He’d just run Rey down to the ferry, hide her in the storage room, and then run right back to the cabin like nothing had even happened. He could steel himself enough to avoid Kylo’s mind-reading. With a pang, he realized that Kylo probably trusted him quite a bit now. 

He grabbed a handful of bread rolls and jerky from his latest box of fresh items and thrust them into Rey’s hands.

“Take these.”

She stuffed the food into her pockets without hestitation and stood waiting on the porch as Hux closed the door behind him.

“You’re sure everyone is gone?”

“Everyone. It’s safe now. It’s the only time that’s safe.”

They made their way down the trail, back through the path in the woods and back down to the shore where Hux had arrived a few days earlier, not quite running but moving quickly, like two travelers that wanted to make sure they didn’t miss their plane. Truly, no one was around, just as she’d said. “You’ll be safe,” he said, not in response to anything but just because he needed to hear himself say it.

“Detective?” 

“Yes?”

“I need to tell you something. Something about why I killed--why I killed Snoke.”

Hux froze. “Yes. Whatever you need to say. Tell me.”

“See that speck of land out there?” She pointed out towards the water, out past the distant, empty ferry, out into the bay. Hux peered out in its direction, trying to see what she was talking about. Before he could open his mouth to ask what she meant, or what that had to do with Snoke, he felt a sudden blinding pain explode out from the side of his head, where she had struck him with all her power with the long heavy branch she’d been carrying, and the last thing he heard before he dropped out of consciousness was his own knees hitting the sand with a soft _flumf_ sound.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Silencer ceremony has arrived, and Hux is about the learn the truth of his role on the island.

It sounded like Rey was speaking a million miles away, her words coming with a ferocious, swimming urgency, like a sudden riptide sending Hux’s brain rolling ass over teakettle in a blackened sea. She was speaking low, almost like she was speaking in his ear, but he could vaguely tell she wasn’t speaking _to_ him. 

He had to focus. He had to. He could tell he was lying down, on something stiff and prickly -- a hay bale, if he had to guess. His hands were bound, and so were his ankles. Tempting as it was to try and squirm, to break away, he knew he had to try to listen to Rey instead. 

“...I knew you wouldn’t let me down.”

“I promised you. I promised that I wouldn’t let it happen.” That was Kylo’s voice, coming from the same side of him, speaking just as low, and the sound of it scraped Hux’s heart straight in half, clean and instant. 

“He’ll be accepted?”

“He already has been. The ceremony is just for show. It’ll be more dramatic this way. Play along, all right, Rey?”

“God. Good. Yes.”

“It’ll all go fine. It’ll be fine.”

Hux was tempted to open his eyes right then, but he was also sure that if he did, he would see something he did not want to see. If they saw him wake up, they might -- freak out? Hurt him? Or worse, even worse, they might laugh in his face instead. He did not want to give them the satisfaction of watching him realize how wrong he’d been this whole time, that Rey had never been the unloved one. It had been _him_ , the one running on the treadmill in the lonely apartment, the one who had volunteered to come to this place in no small part because nobody would miss him. 

He would not give Kylo the satisfaction of finding out that Hux had fallen in love with him, and had paid for his stupidity with his life. 

“Go on,” whispered Rey. “It’s time.”

Hux heard the soft rustle of striding feet on the hard earth, and then Kylo’s voice call out, and all ambient sound dropped away except for the natural noises, the wind in the trees, the occasional hoot of an owl. 

“Listen, as I am silenced, to speak with the voice of Starscatter itself.”

Some scattered applause, and then quiet. Quiet. Hux found that he couldn’t help but open his eyes, the quiet was unnerving him more than anything else had so far, and when he did, he had to shut them again right away because a blaze of red light illuminated the entire gathering, a flash like an atom bomb.

When he opened his eyes once more, he could see Kylo standing there with his back to him -- Kylo seemed strangely short, until Hux realized he was lying up high, placed up into some box or platform, so that he could see down across the clearing, where all of the islanders stood waiting in front of the mural. They were not costumed in any clothes out of the ordinary, but they were wearing masks painted white with vague features, like a sea of ghosts. 

Kylo, though, was unmasked, and he was holding the red sword, the real red sword, the one from the picture, something that gave off unearthly light, and his hands, his fingers, they were black as coal, tipped in sharp onyx nails that gripped the glowing hilt. 

Fuck.

This was not anywhere close to hippie shit.

“The time is now here,” Kylo said, and while it was still recognizably his voice, it sounded distorted, almost machine-like. He held up the sword in front of him, pointing it outward as if accusing every member of the group, though no one moved or reacted in fear. “The giving of the unloved.”

More applause. 

“Ten years ago, this leader was young and green, and Snoke was the one who spoke with my voice. Now, he is gone. He has been given.”

This statement was the first to cause a stir of murmuring among the people. The masked figures turned to look at one another, their voices rising up from below Hux, who was now shivering uncontrollably. 

“Snoke forfeited the love of Kylo Ren, his apprentice,” called Rey, who now strode forward. “His heart was twisted by possessiveness. He asked for me to be chosen as the sacrifice.”

The murmurs increased to full-on talking now. Clearly, no one, not even the veteran islanders, had seen something like this happen before at a Silencer ceremony, and they only quieted again when Kylo swiped the sword through the air, sending out another blinding flash.

“Snoke wished to give an unacceptable offering in order to remove the girl, who had proven her place among the people of Starscatter. She was given trial after trial and she passed. She proved her worth as a speaker of the Force, and as a friend to all,” he went on, or maybe it wasn’t him, it was the island itself, maybe it really was. Hux was past skepticism now. “To give an unacceptable sacrifice is to doom everyone here. Kylo Ren made a choice, in order to save his only true friend, and to save the home that he loved so dearly. He offered Snoke to the island instead.”

“And Snoke was really accepted?” someone -- Hux realized after a moment it was Matt -- called out. 

“You ignorant fool!” the nervous old man who had read the announcements scolded. “Of course he was accepted. This is the voice of the Starscatter speaking to you! To doubt its words is to doubt everything we have worked for all these years!”

“The voice of Starscatter!” a few other people cheered.

“But what about the detective?” someone else wanted to know. “I thought _we_ chose him!”

“He, too, is an unacceptable sacrifice,” said the voice coming from Kylo now. “He would not have been considered worthy, for he is not unloved.”

And then Kylo turned to face Hux for the first time. 

Objectively, whatever Kylo had become was terrifying. The black, clawed hands gripping the glowing sword -- that was only the start. An uneven array of sharp, boarlike teeth poked out from his lips, and his eyes were not their normal amber brown but black, real black. A devil? A demon? Hux had never seen anything like it. And yet, seeing that frightening thing, it filled Hux with bursting, wild relief. _Everyone will obey this creature, this monster that I love._ For the first time since Rey had knocked him out, he felt safe. 

“Your trials are done,” the voice in Kylo announced. “You have been tested by the island, and found to belong to us, not to the fire.”

“A pardon!” a few people said.

“There hasn’t been a pardon in decades!” the nervous old man exclaimed. “Oh, this is a momentous occasion!”

The creature-Kylo drove the red sword into the ground, and then reached up and pulled Hux from the platform of the effigy where he lay, as easily as a child might pick up the kitten he had chosen from the litter to take home. He used one sharp thumb to slice through the rope on Hux’s ankles, and then the one binding Hux’s hands. 

“Before you. The pardoned.”

Hux was hardly able to stand, but he managed to stay on his feet, even as every one of the masked attendees fell to their knees, calling in a rising sea of voices that became one. 

“The pardoned! The pardoned!”

Only Rey and Kylo still stood, and suddenly it struck Hux that they three would be the ones everyone would look up to like this from now on -- the leader, his apprentice, and the person the island itself had snatched from the effigy. 

Later, when Kylo was himself again, he would remind Hux that he was indeed to be worshipped. It wouldn’t be for another day or so; being possessed by something so enormous and powerful was exhausting, and Rey and Hux ended up helping him walk once the energy of Starscatter had drained away and left him simply himself. But he was young and strong, and it didn’t take him long to get his energy back. Guilty fucking, bewitched-feeling fucking, that had its charms, but eager, gleeful, ravenous, relieved fucking, that was another entirely.

That would all come. 

“The pardoned!” the voices called, again and again, and when Hux took a step forward, the voices went faster, became more intense, until it sounded like the only thing in the world were the frenzied shouts of the islanders who had accepted him. “The pardoned! The pardoned!”

The calls bounced in dizzy arcs across the trees, into the sky, permeating the island, a reminder, again and again, again.

* * *

_One year later_

The reporter was young. He seemed to be just barely above college age, with a kind face and an easy, funny manner. It didn’t take long for him to reveal that this would be his story for the paper that wasn’t about elementary schoolers fundraising with lemonade stands or cats that had found internet fame. Finn, he said that was his name. Rey had come to meet him at the ferry dock so she could walk him up to the meeting house to talk to a few other islanders. 

“Everyone here’s been so nice,” he said, hoisting his messenger bag up over his shoulder. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Oh, really?” Rey asked.

“I was actually kind of amazed to get an interview at all. I don’t know, I thought you guys would say no.”

“We’re not that secret,” Rey answered, making a face, which made Finn laugh. “I mean, we do sell stuff at Whole Foods.”

“Well, that’s true. But I understand there was a police investigation here last year.”

“The first suspected murder in a hundred years, and even that turned out to be an accidental death.” She smiled. “Of course, the circumstances were suspicious. That’s why Kylo Ren called for an investigation.”

“If you don’t mind me saying so, you were the prime suspect.”

This time, Rey laughed. 

“Of course I don’t mind. It’s a fact, isn’t it? Yes, and I couldn’t be more grateful to former detective Hux for clearing my name. He’s quite a sharp one.”

“That’s the perfect segue to what I wanted to ask you about next, actually. The detective who cleared you...he came back, didn’t he?”

“He did. He was quite taken with our way of life, and he felt...well, I guess you could say he felt loved.” By this time, they’d come through the woods and into the cluster of cabins. It was a beautiful day, and they both stopped talking for a moment to take in the smell of the sea breeze rising up to meet them. 

“Man. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of that smell. Sure beats the smell of the greasy pizza restaurant under my apartment. I’m starting to get why you’d leave a job in the city and come here.”

“Tell me about it. I’ve lived in some pretty isolated places before, too, but none of them compared to this.”

“Well, you’re isolated, but not. That’s my understanding. The ferry’s right there.”

Rey nodded. “Well, yes, but it’s more than just the ferry. It’s the community. Everyone becomes very tight-knit, and if you’re new but you’re the right kind of person…you just get absorbed really quickly.” She used her head to indicate forward. “Such as the ex-detective.”

“So what’s his role now?”

“Nothing official, though we don’t really do anything official here regardless. I’m Kylo Ren’s second in command in our spiritual beliefs, you could say, but Hux is his partner in really running things. He’s got a much better head for civics. Here, look, you can talk to him now.”

Life here clearly suited Armitage Hux. Physically, he appeared to be the same man that Finn had seen in the police department’s photos: red hair, a slim build, pale eyes. But the man in those pictures had seemed humorless and pallid and untouchable. This man, the one who was standing in front of the huge stained glass mural, had freckles on his arms and a more gentle posture, like he was made of flesh and bone instead of steel. He turned at the sound of their approach, and smiled. 

Finn gave a short wave. “De--whoops.”

“Force of habit, right? Me too.” Hux came over and shook Finn’s hand. “I still respond to it, don’t worry.”

“I couldn’t believe it when I heard it. A detective, someone who was basically a shoo-in for promotion -- now you’re here. But now that I’ve seen it for myself, it makes a lot more sense.” 

“How long are you staying? There’s a lot more to see.”

“Probably just until tomorrow morning, then taking the ferry back,” Finn answered. “But who knows? Maybe I’ll stick around.” The sarcasm in his voice was playful, and Hux broke into easy laughter that, again, would have seemed impossible for the dour man in the photos. 

“Well, you’re welcome to stay as long as you want.”

“Is that what they told you?” Finn teased. “And then they kept you prisoner?”

“Oh, right, that’s what it was,” Hux responded. “They tied me up and enchanted me, and then I left the force. Certainly it had nothing to do with the crushing depression of being alone and having no support network in the city outside of work.” 

Finn hoisted the bag that had slipped down his shoulder again from the force of his laughter. “You wouldn’t have room for any journalists who don’t get paid shit, would you? That’s off the record, of course.”

Hux pushed his hair back, the bangs that had grown long and messy in the year since he’d first arrived. The sun was glinting hard off the mural, making it hard to see anyone further away than Rey and Finn, but he could tell Kylo was nearby, radiating a sort of knowing amusement, unless it was maybe the island itself expressing itself to him in a way that he was only just learning to describe. “You’d be surprised,” he answered. “I didn’t think there’d be room for me.”

“And they proved you wrong?”

“Oh, yes,” Hux said. “Completely wrong.”

The sun was bright, and there would be strawberry salad for dinner, and everything was as it should have been on Starscatter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all! That's the end! What a huge long labor of love! I can't believe this has been my project for so many months, and now it's all closed up...just in time for Halloween! Thank you all for the encouragement and for the comments, ahHHH.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow! I had this idea around Christmas, and I've finally had the time and energy to get it started. I hope you like it!
> 
> Inspired by the classic film "The Wicker Man", which there is only one version of, and certainly no remakes of which have ever been made, no, of course not. 
> 
> I'm a bit more active on Twitter these days. Come talk hcs with me at @mevia_ergo


End file.
